How is the repair going of the chewed up top? Im always interested to hear what people come up with for that one. 

Hi David, thanks for the 'friend-add'!  Yes, I've used that steam rig once and it seems to work alright, maybe a B- for a grade.

I was hoping it'd totally evaporate the escaping steam (and it seems to do some of that) but it also blows a lot of it around on the guitar surface, which makes for a lot of quick mopping-up with a rag while it's working.

It became necessary to add some additional air-venting on the main manifold, simply because the vacuum-cleaner (in reverse) was throwing out too much air pressure... as indicated by the vacuum motor sounding really "backed-up" and more high-pitched than when it's running with a normal load, if that makes any sense?   Perhaps using larger hose (1/2" instead of the 1/4" I'm using now) would alleviate that, but I don't think so.

At any rate, "I've got what I've got" now, and am looking-forward to suing it again to see what sort of fine-tuning can be done.

Keep me up-to-date on yours, OK? I'd be curious what sort of changes you'll make and the ensuing results.   Have a ball.... /// Mike